A night that saw former Major League superstar Roger Clemens throw out the first pitch amid an array of pregame festivities suddenly got halted by a heavy downpour, resulting in a near 2 1/2 hour delay from getting underway.

Wednesday’s 2013 Atlantic League All-Star game hosted by the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs’ Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf did not exactly unfold according to form, as the postgame fireworks were actually let off prior to the action beginning to avoid the county’s curfew restriction given the rain delay.

And finally at 9:33 p.m. with most of the 7,128 fans in attendance returning for the bulk of the game, there was all-star baseball on the field.

But even the game lacked the usual all-star offensive-minded feel, relying on the league’s newly implemented homer-off to determine the outcome after both the Liberty Division and Freedom Division completed the ninth inning in a 1-all tie.

Freedom’s Corey Smith (Somerset) managed to hit the only long ball of the homer-off to win the All-Star game for his side and thus take home Most Valuable Player honors.

Blue Crabs slugger Cyle Hankerd was chosen to represent Liberty in the homer-off but was surprisingly unable to produce a shot over the fence during his chance, batting last in the deciding format, despite being the most dangerous hitter in the league up until the all-star break.

Hankerd, who leads the league in extra-base hits and doubles while is second in homers and RBIs and is third in average, hit a couple of deep balls in the homer-off toward his stadium’s short left-field porch but none got over.

The all-star matchup ended at 12:21 a.m. Thursday morning.

Blue Crabs shortstop Renny Osuna, who started for Liberty, scored his side’s only run while being the only Southern Maryland player to record a hit.

Blue Crabs pitchers Daryl Thompson and Jim Ed Warden each had scoreless stints. Thompson retired all six batters he faced in two innings with two strikeouts, while Warden allowed one hit while fanning a pair.

View the photo galley of images from the All-Star game by clicking here.